[OutVoice] Lance Bass: I'm Gay
BMGNedra at aol.com
BMGNedra at aol.com
Wed Jul 26 10:07:56 CDT 2006
Lance Bass: I'm Gay
Wednesday Jul 26, 2006 8:30am EST
CREDIT: WIREIMAGE
Lance Bass, the former 'N Sync heartthrob, reveals that he is gay, in an
exclusive interview with PEOPLE.
"I knew that I was in this popular band and I had four other guys' careers
in my hand, and I knew that if I ever acted on it or even said (that I was
gay), it would overpower everything," says Bass, referring to bandmates Joey
Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez and Justin Timberlake.
"I didn’t know: Could that be the end of ’N Sync? So I had that weight on
me of like, ‘Wow, if I ever let anyone know, it's bad.' So I just never did,"
he says speaking about his sexual orientation for the first time with PEOPLE.
Now, after years of keeping his personal life private, the Mississippi-bred,
Southern Baptist-reared Bass, 27, is publicly revealing what he first shared
with his friends, then his shocked family.
"He took years to really think about how he was going to tell everyone,"
says his close buddy Fatone, 29, who was the first 'N Sync bandmate to find out
Bass is gay. "I back him up 100 percent." Adds Bass’s longtime pal, actress
Christina Applegate: "I've always accepted him as who he is. It's about his
own serenity at this point."
Having pursued acting, producing and – most memorably – space flight after ’
N Sync went on hiatus in 2002, Bass now is looking ahead to new beginnings.
He is in a "very stable" relationship with model-actor-Amazing Race winner
Reichen Lehmkuhl, 32, and is developing an Odd Couple-inspired sitcom pilot
with Fatone in which his character will be gay.
Mostly, though, he’s just enjoying the relief that comes with the
culmination of a long, at times emotionally fraught journey.
"The thing is, I’m not ashamed – that’s the one thing I want to say," he
explains of his decision to come out. "I don't think it's wrong, I'm not
devastated going through this. I'm more liberated and happy than I’ve been my whole
life. I'm just happy."
Timberlake, Kirkpatrick, Fatone, Bass and Chasez of N'Sync in 1997
CREDIT: ANDRE CSILLAG / REX
As for why he's talking about this now Bass says, "The main reason I wanted
to speak my mind was that (the rumors) really were starting to affect my
daily life. Now it feels like it's on my terms. I'm at peace with my family, my
friends, myself and God so there's really nothing else that I worry about."
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